Farmer's Wife 1930s Quilt-along: Fabric Ideas

Choosing the fabrics for a project has to be one of my favourite tasks and when it's for a large sampler quilt made of single blocks, each block as a potential canvas, I get very excited!  For the Farmer's Wife 1930s Quilt-along the obvious choice is vintage fabrics or repros.  I do have some very old vintage from around this period but only in the form of these fan blades that a kind flickr swapper traded with me several years back. 

So instead I'm turning to a mix of my stash and buying in some extra fat quarters.  I did originally think I would use some of my vintage collection but the reality is that in a well used quilt, which I hope this one will one day become, they don't wear as well as new fabrics. 

As I start to pull fabrics for a quilt, sometimes little groupings emerge like this one.  Great colour match but maybe more suited for another project: the navy is very intense as is the deep orange, the flowers are also rather spread out and this would need to be considered when cutting out small pieces.

Pattern scale is an important factor for these 6 inch blocks.  Some of the blocks can involve 50, 60, 70 and more pattern pieces.  Some large designs or spaced out prints can get lost when cut so small.   Larger designs could still work and provide a good sense of contrast but I think I will only use these occasionally.  Many 1930s reproduction prints have the advantage of being small scale designs and either, non-directional with tossed designs that work in any direction or four-way so they can rotate in 90 degree increments and look the same.  These are great for foundation paper piecing, especially the tossed prints as you won't have to worry about directional placement and there's less wastage. 

I have a mix of modern prints influenced by vintage designed in my stash that I think will work in this quilt.  I find just 1930s repro can be a little too sweet for my taste and these balance that out.  Contrast is key when choosing fabrics for a block: there needs to be a sufficient harmony between the colours and prints but also a point of difference, something that creates a little tension, only then does a block shine!

I did pull a few small scale geometric prints too- too many floras can lack contrast and look busy;  geometrics give extra dimension to a block and lead the eye in particular directions.   I don't intend to break new ground with my fabric choices, like the book, I'll be adding a lot of solids too. Many repro prints are rather dense and solids create space and heighten colour choices. 

Heather Ross's new Tiger Lily collection has a great mix of prints and colours that would combine with 1930s repros.    These were a recent purchase from Eternal Maker, the top print is Hand Picked in Ecru by Anna Maria Horner.  I'm planning to add this in too!

You could make this quilt in any fabric combination- solids, modern prints, monochrome but I know many of you are inspired by the 1930s repro fabrics in the book,  so where to buy?  Here are some ideas:

UK/EU:
Sarah and Penny at Pretty Fabrics and Trims have a big selection of repro and vintage inspired prints.  They also specialise in putting mini selections together in bundles and these come in different cuts, fat quarters and smaller.   They are one of my blog sponsors so many of the 1930s repro fabrics in these pics are from their shop.

Jessie at Sew and Quilt is passionate about 1930s fabrics.  She has a great selection of 1930s repros and has been putting a Farmer's Wife 1930s quilt kit together for those who prefer that approach.  She also stocks hand sewing equipment for those who want to hand piece or English Paper Piece their blocks.

Tiina at Tikki Patchwork stocks a wonderful selection of repro prints both as yardage and bundles online and at her shop in Kew, London.

USA:
I don't buy much fabrics from USA these days so many of you may have ideas you'd like to add in the comments to these suggestions.

Connecting Threads have their own range of in house repro fabrics like 'Line Dried' as well as stocking other well known quilting brands- Michael Miller, Cotton+Steel etc.

WestwoodAcres 
I saw a lovely bundle on Instagram that Amanda had put together with the Farmer's Wife 1930s sampler quilt in mind and she kindly sent me a photo to include:

Here's the link to this bundle as fat quarters or fat eighths as well as the Farmer's Wife 1930s book.

You may be lucky enough to have a local quilt shop with a great repro selection.  Otherwise, ebay or Etsy and searching under 1930s repro/reproduction or Aunt Grace fabrics will give you a huge number to choose from.  Please add suggestions from your country in the comments.

Lots of people got in touch with me when I first announced the quilt along including many who had made a quilt from the Earlier 1920s book.  Patty of A Stitch in Time used a limited colour palette to great effect- red/aqua/grey/white- see the results here, stunning!  I know a few people have mentioned to me that they'd like to make the 1930s blocks in just a few colours and Patty's quilt shows how effective that can be.   Melinda of Quirky Granola girl has magic touch when it comes to combining  fabrics.  She is thoughtful in her choices and the results are often unexpected and all the more exciting for it.  When I asked if she would like to share a few of her original Farmer's Wife and Pony club blocks, she wrote a wonderful post that I am privileged to host here, I will post it after this for you to drool over!  She discusses how she puts different fabrics together and in particular how she uses contrast in colour, tone, scale and print.  It is an informative read.

I'll be back next Wednesday with a few suggestions for tools and equipment for different construction methods.  Basic tools are all you really need but there are a few other inexpensive bits and pieces that may make life easier.  Don't forget the hashtag #fw1930sqal and you are welcome to tag me on Instagram for your Farmer's Wife pictures!  I'm @verykerryberry on there.

Catch Ups and Shout Outs

 A bit of blog house keeping.  I have been meaning to mention this UK website- a great idea for selling fabric small scale- a little destash perhaps, and bigger scale if you have lots to sell!  The brain child of Emma Thomsen from Its All About the Fabric a great blog full of handy links.  The Fabric Market Place works a bit like Etsy, you register to buy and you can use the same details to register as a seller too if you have sewing related goodies to sell.  It is a great idea, I love Etsy but there is so much on it that you can drown in the results when you are buying or selling, this is so specific, I hope it catches on,  I have put a few bits on to see how it goes.  

I've just had a quick look at the categories- sewing machines, handmade makes, vintage- it just needs a few more people to go over and visit and add it to their bookmarks!  Emma is really helpful with any lisiting queries so if you want to dip your toe in the online selling or buying water, give her a try.  Her email is on her blog.

I have done a couple of Farmer's Wife blocks.  I tend to do these inbetween other projects as a bit of sewing rest and recuperation.  I am still quite new to traditional blocks so I am interested to see how more experienced sewing hands approach these.  Ayumi told me about Lori's blog- Bee in My Bonnet, what a great place to visit and Lori has some great tutorials for some of the Farmer's wife blocks.

80 Single Wedding Star

54 Kitchen Toolbox

couldn't resist the woodgrain (Joel Dewberry)  fabric here!

Farmers Dozen (less one)

Twelve blocks finished, not quite the full Farmer's dozen- the numbers kept changing as I counted my completed pile. The nice thing about this type of quilt-a-long is I can do them when I please so I had a little flurry after a gap.  For the moment, I have abandoned templates and I have just been looking at the blocks and working out the size by eye.  I am lucky, my eyes like this kind of thing and quickly chop things up into squares and rectangles.

Box-Lakehouse Drygoods seed catalogue, Cosmo graph paper, Chloe's Closet check and Suzuko Koseki daisies and red polkas.

When I say do it by eye, I look at the blocks and if I can work out how many squares the block is based on, I can then work out the size of the pieces.  In Snowball- this is a 9 patch block so each square is 2 1/2

 inches before sewing.  For half square triangles, these need to be bigger- I cut 2 7/8 inches squares and then cut them diagonally for the triangles.

Snowball- Alexander Henry Farmdale turquoise, Michael Miller big red polkas, Windham's American vintage close together red polkas and vintage mid spaced polkas!

Half square triangles are easy to cut if you do the maths- or math depending on you where you are in the world. Add 7/8 inch to the finished size of the hst block- the square the two triangles make.  These are 2 inches finished so 2 7/8" to cut out.  

Windows Suzuko Koseki brown doodles, Michael Miller Dick and Jane Sentence structure, Sevenberry yellow floral- if you find this anywhere everyone wants it, me included.

For Postage stamps, the cutting was easy!  I am proud of getting my little squares to behave and line up- I sewed these in rows of 3, blocks of 9 and then put the 4 quarters together.  Seams are nestled-they are pressed in alternate directions for each row- for optimum fit.

Postage Stamps- Lakehouse Drygoods seed catalogue, Suzuko Koseki Red recipe print, Kona school bus, Kona aqua

And a blurry group shot so far- forgot to put the postage stamp one out for this but a shot like this helps to show me which colours are missing and what I need to include more/less of.

Next I am starting on a dress before summer disappears.  Dress making is always a bit of a risk- I can do the sewing bit ( with the exception of zips which will always make me squirm at least a little) but there is often a reality gap between what I like the look of and what actually suits me.  I love the drape and fall of the sort of dresses you find in Japanese pattern books but I tend to look drowned in things like that and possibly like I am in maternity wear, not the best look.  I am having a go at the Lisette Portfolio dress, hmm, I'll show you as I go along- I am prepared for it to look good on the hanger and not on me.  It'll be a learning experience.  Baby Go! is on its way too, or so I have been told...

Friendship blocks

Doing the Farmer's Wife Quilt a long has opened my eyes to traditional blocks, the friendship blocks in particular stood out and along with more friendship blocks in 5500 Quilt Blocks gave me the idea for this cushion/pillow project.

You can see in my sketch of how the different blocks were organised.  I didn't want sashing, I was aiming for a scrappy colourful look, even if it is pretty high impact on the eyeballs!

I also started with a limited colour palette, mainly green and pink with some cream/white and black.  I wanted the challenge of working with a narrow range and using colours I don't normally turn to.  Black has been exciting to use, it brings a depth and a drama, especially little splashes of it.

Fabrics are a mix of vintage and new, bought and given, and some Suzuko Koseki and Kumiko Fujita treasures.  The edges are bound with double binding using Lakehouse Dry Goods seed catalogue print.

 Guessed who it was for yet?

It was for Ayumi  and it has now arrived to help decorate her new apartment in Japan and spread a bit of birthday good wishes for this weekend!

Here's to friendship x